"I'll wait for you outside."
Alaric scratched his nose, honestly surprised that Gwen was so casual about changing clothes in front of him!
Then he realized Gwen had done it because, in her haste, she completely forgot he was there.
Alaric leaned against the wall by the window and sighed inwardly.
"What a figure…"
"What did you say?!"
Gwen, completely red, had just finished changing. Her heart hadn't calmed down yet, and just as she opened the window, she heard Alaric's words and instantly blushed and flared up!
"Ahem, I said: what a beautiful evening, really!"
Alaric quickly explained, but his gaze unintentionally dropped lower.
The girl next door had grown up.
"You're still looking! I'm not talking to you anymore!"
Gwen glared at Alaric, jumped out the window, and swung on her web toward the streets of Queens.
She was glad she wore her mask, otherwise, with her face burning like this, she wouldn't dare show herself!
Alaric shrugged, saying that loving beauty was human nature, and quietly flew after Gwen.
...
"Flash… Flash… Where are you?"
Peter kicked open the third-floor door and entered.
He could feel his target was here.
Peter sniffed and caught the scent of his prey.
He walked slowly, repeating Flash's name, while his thick, powerful tail slammed against the walls, leaving marks behind.
Peter was bringing Flash and the others their greatest, deepest despair!
In a cramped room, several high school students held their hands over their mouths, sobbing, faces wet with tears.
Their hearts pounded in rhythm with the sounds outside.
One boy even peed himself out of fear.
But no one teased him now, because they were all on the verge of doing the same!!
...
Rrrrm!
Suddenly, a strong light shone on Peter's body through the glass, making him instinctively raise his arm to cover his eyes.
Peter looked carefully and saw a helicopter outside, its spotlight fixed on him.
Additionally, a police officer had already mounted a machine gun, finger on the trigger, awaiting orders.
"Roaaar!"
Seeing this, Peter charged and rushed into the room across the hall.
"Fire!!"
Seeing the lizard-monster about to escape, the deputy chief quickly gave the order instead of George, who was still en route.
Rat-tat-tat!
The machine gun blazed and hit Peter precisely.
Suddenly, crash, crack, glass shattered, they managed to halt his movement.
But unfortunately, Peter's defense after transformation was no longer something bullets could easily penetrate.
Peter let out a hissing roar and jumped through the window straight at the helicopter.
"Run, run!!"
"Watch out!! Evade!!"
The police below screamed in panic when they saw the scene.
Boom!
Using his massive strength, Peter grabbed the helicopter's lower bar, yanked it forcefully, and slammed the craft into the wall behind.
Rrrrrrash
Sparks flew and the helicopter completely crashed, while Peter landed on the street.
"Shoot!!"
"Stop him!!"
Everyone shouted, acting at the same time!
"Rooar!"
Peter moved, stepped heavily forward, grabbed a car in front of him, and threw it at the police!
Then he leapt, landed on a police car, and his sharp, clawed fingers tore through the roof like paper.
"Help!!"
The officer inside, drenched in sweat, struggled with his seatbelt, trying to escape.
He was crying from the screams echoing through the shredded metal above his head.
"Stop!!"
A sharp female voice rang out from the air.
Peter instinctively looked up toward the source of the voice, and in that moment Gwen kicked him right in the face and knocked him back several meters.
Peter stood up unharmed. When he saw who had arrived, his lips trembled, then he quickly turned around and ran back into the building.
...
"It's Spider-Woman!!"
"Awesome!!"
"Superhero!!"
...
The rescued police officers, seeing Spider-Woman standing on top of the car, shouted in relief all at once!
They had never been so happy to see her!!
"Great work, everyone! Leave this monster to me!"
Gwen gave them a thumbs up, then rushed into the building after the lizard-man.
Alaric, invisible in the air, quietly followed and didn't interfere.
His intention tonight was only to support when necessary, not to solve everything for Gwen.
As a young spider at the start of her journey, Gwen needed combat, training, experience.
And Dr. Lizard was a good opponent: thick-skinned, durable, strong, and roughly on par with Gwen's current power.
Alaric floated slightly behind her, watching how she stopped Dr. Lizard, how she fought.
Before they started, he had already told her, he would only intervene if she couldn't handle it, or if Dr. Lizard tried to escape.
So now Gwen fought without hesitation, engaging him and chatting at the same time.
Mostly complaining: that she hadn't been able to stop him the previous two times.
But for some reason, Gwen felt that something was off with the lizard-monster tonight.
Earlier, he roared, raged, acted wildly.
Tonight, he barely said a word?
Even his counterattacks to her strikes were weak, mostly dodging.
Soon the two of them fought their way to the third floor.
Alaric frowned; as soon as he entered behind Gwen on the third floor, he sensed several people hiding in a small room deep inside.
"High schoolers?"
"Why is Dr. Lizard targeting these kids? Is he after Peter?"
Puzzled, Alaric released a bit of mental magic and observed.
"Flash? A basketball player, one of Gwen's schoolmates…"
"But Peter's not here."
"Wait… isn't this Dr. Lizard actually Peter!?"
Alaric flinched.
He suddenly remembered: since Spider-Man in this universe is Gwen, it means Peter wasn't bitten!
From what Alaric recalled, the reason Gwen matured and truly understood the meaning of the phrase "with great power comes great responsibility" was precisely the loss of one important person.
And that person, as far as he knew, was her good friend, Peter Parker!!
Although Peter wasn't Gwen's boyfriend, as someone close to her, she believed that it was precisely because of her mistake, her failure, that Peter died.
That changed Gwen's psyche, making her afraid to form new friendships easily.
That's how she learned that with great power comes great responsibility, and truly began a serious Spider-Woman career, determined to use her powers to help others.
"Ah, this…"
Alaric scratched his head.
It seemed the situation had gone beyond what he expected.
If Dr. Lizard weren't Peter, he could've taken him down without hesitation.
But turns out he is Peter, so what now?
He can't just kill him in front of Gwen!?
He couldn't even imagine: if he did that, would Gwen see him as an enemy from that moment on?
"Ugh, so complicated, if I'd known, I wouldn't have come at all."